


Reflections

by goldensummertime



Series: A Slightly Different Verse [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Other, bath scene, mentions of injury, nothing really shown though so no worries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldensummertime/pseuds/goldensummertime
Summary: Gunter takes some time out of his day to help Jakob with his wounds, considering they nearly caused him to die.Drabble of my other story A Time to Pass Away. Prior knowledge will help, but it is not required.





	Reflections

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently it's Gunter's birthday today??? Happy birth i guess u deserved better than fates' team of writers.  
> Also my drabbles are a lot shorter than normal chapters lolol.

It hadn’t been Gunter’s first time dealing with a wounded soldier. He had been in many battles and many situations where he had seen others die, whether it be from wounds, disease, or failure of other organs, mostly the heart. He acted accordingly of course, making sure his liege was well taken care of, making sure the other soldiers were also well accommodated, and taking time out of his afternoon to check on Selena while she sat around, pretending as if she was aloof and completely removed from the situation.

“Could you please ask her what’s wrong?” Jakob had questioned the older retainer, a confused look on his face, though Gunter couldn’t miss the tone of haughtiness in his apprentice’s voice; he was altogether too used to it and even though Jakob had finally given up the crass act there were obviously times in which he reverted back to his old tendencies.

“I will do so, but I cannot force her to do what she clearly doesn’t want to,” Gunter responded with an even tone, arms crossed calmly. “Perhaps it is something you have done?”

Jakob frowned and crossed his arms, currently sitting up and leaning on multiple pillows. Gunter watched him pay attentive care to his left arm, noticing how it moved slowly and awkwardly. “What could I have done? I haven’t said anything to her except in response to one question.”

“What was that?”

Jakob shrugged rather rudely, looking to the side. “If I was in pain. However, that was two days ago.”

Gunter remembered walking in one night, perhaps the second, when Princess Elise and Nyx had run out of numbing salve. He was no stranger to watching others suffer with pain, wounds great, perhaps an amputated limb, but it was different seeing it happen with Jakob. The younger retainer hardly complained about anything dealing with physical pain, preferring to keep his mouth shut and continue serving, but that night it had taken both Gunter and Kamui to keep Jakob down enough to reapply the salve. His apprentice had been driven to tears and his cries of pain still rang in Gunter’s ears.

He had certainly suffered a grievous injury and Gunter was all the more thankful that he had survived.

That would be one less child to die.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with him?” Selena huffed and crossed her arms, looking pointedly to the side with a pouting expression. “First he almost dies on me and then he expects me to suck up to him? Give me a break!”

“That is not his intention, Selena,” Gunter said with careful measure. “You know that.”

“Hmph.” Selena crossed her arms and Gunter could see the shine of a tear glossing her eyes. “I… I can’t see him. Not now. I’m sure he’ll understand.” She quickly turned and walked off toward Princess Camilla, eyeing the medical tent.

Gunter sighed, a quick answer still burning on his tongue, and he let his shoulders sag for half a second. If only the youth had wisdom and the old had energy. He would have to teach Jakob a bit more before he retired or else Lady Kamui and her siblings would be ripping their hair out.

“It’s been three days of healing, so I think he’s ok if he goes to the bath house,” Nyx muttered to Gunter and Kamui as she flipped through a few pages of notes. “As Lady Kamui has informed me, his arm is getting better, though progress is slow, and Felicia has graciously helped me try and rehabilitate his hip.” She looked up and snapped the clipboard down, eyes measured. “A bit of walking would greatly help him at this point. Small exercises in here can only go so far and I want him to be walking without assistance by… two days from now.”

“Without assistance…?” Jakob murmured, unsure of the task himself.

“Without human assistance,” Nyx clarified, turning to the patient. “You’ll need a crutch for a while just to make sure you don’t place undue pressure on your injuries. The scar tissue building up within your body will prevent some movement and cause some pain, but we can work through that.”

Felicia shook her head, looking downcast. “If only we had healed him more…”

“Yea, thanks for that,” Jakob snapped to Nyx.

“Elise was exhausted at that point and so where Flora and Felicia, I might add,” Nyx snapped back. “Would you rather they died? No?”

Jakob rolled his eyes, but shifted his position on his bed, grabbing the crutch that Kamui held out for him. “Let’s get this over with then.”

“Yes. Let’s,” Gunter smiled in Jakob’s direction as he sighed and narrowed his eyes, ignoring his superior.

It wasn’t exactly a long walk to the bathhouse, but Jakob’s pace was easily a third of his normal speed… when waking up in the morning. Gunter didn’t mind too much; even if they were going slow, it was much better than putting Jakob through more unnecessary pain. While going through therapy hurt of course, at least that had been necessary.

“Hey old man, I can do everything by myself, ok?” Jakob huffed while avoiding angled ground. “You’re only here because Nyx says I can’t walk without assistance yet.”

“Oh of course you can do everything by yourself. In your dreams.”

Jakob snorted before shifting his crutch to a more comfortable position. “I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“You never really were, but there was no way you were going to clean out every scratch you suffered when Prince… ah, one of the princes smashed through the window,” Gunter evenly explained. “Not to mention you fell out of the tree retrieving Lady Kamui’s ribbon and were bucked off of Princess Elise’s horse. You need my help more than you think.”

“I was, like, twelve. There was no way I could clean out every scratch from my skin,” Jakob huffed, moving his leg with difficulty. “And I was even younger during the window incident. I still swear I was his main target and not Prince Leo.”

“You were hardly of any consequence,” Gunter chuckled, mostly to himself as he remembered the numerous royal children that were no longer of this world. “Prince Leo on the other hand was a prime target.”

“Give me a break.”

Nyx had made sure that the bath houses were to be emptied by the time Jakob was ready since it would take him extremely long to get decent and make sure his wound was properly clean. She had handed Gunter some bandages and gauze, informing him that if Jakob tried to take out any of his stitches that he break his fingers ‘oh her behalf’. Gunter wouldn’t go to such extremes, of course, but he also doubted that Jakob would do such a thing. His apprentice may be obstinate and disobey anyone who wasn’t his lady, but he wasn’t stupid by any means.

Jakob slowly eased himself down onto one of the stools before setting his crutch to the side and removing his boots and socks with slow motions. Gunter had to help him with a few small things, like his shirt and bandages, but eventually Jakob sank into one of the smaller tubs available, preferring to use one of those instead of the showers.

Gunter hadn’t really seen Jakob’s injury for himself, not a direct angle of it and certainly not every inch. He was surprised at just how serious it really was; it must have been two feet. Two feet of stitched-together skin and however deep the wound itself went.

Seeing it for himself allowed Gunter to realize just why Selena had been hysterical at the severity of the injury. He didn’t know if he would have been able to keep a cool head in such a situation, though he had more experience in war. This was Selena’s first, though she had done small errands for Princess Camilla. No doubt she hadn’t lost anyone before either, save Shura.

Jakob looked up as he grabbed a small towel, frowning at Gunter’s gaze. “What? Think I was being careless? Are you going to criticize me?”

Gunter thought the entire opposite. It had taken Princess Camilla a long time to drag the story out of her distraught retainer, but she eventually passed on the specifics of the event to Lady Kamui, who then told Gunter and her two other retainers, along with Silas and Kaze. Jakob had willingly sacrificed himself for Selena, a sentence that Gunter thought he would never hear. Jakob had expressed distaste to near everyone in the army and was entirely dedicated to Lady Kamui – or at least he had, up until a few months ago, Gunter had noticed.

It was an action worthy of applause and respect, though Gunter would not give it so easily to Jakob, not when he still had a long way to go with respect of his own. “I was just reflecting on how differently you act around Lady Kamui and Selena. If only you would extend such respect to others.”

Jakob gave a noise of committal before beginning on his right arm. “People have to deserve my respect. I don’t dole it out on undeserving people.”

“I suppose that is how you would operate, though I am proud to see that you no longer curse at others or threaten them without refrain.”

“I never did that,” Jakob sighed while moving to his shoulder.

“Oh? I know quite a few people who would disagree. You spread a bad stain on Lady Kamui’s name.” He paused as Jakob straightened up, using his positioning to help assist his bad arm. “Though, at least you have finally taken the time to rectify that.”

“It’s not my fault that I would only see Lady Kamui as worthy,” Jakob muttered, still frowning, though mostly in thought. “If people treat me like garbage, isn’t it only fair that I do the same?”

“No. But it is not unexpected.”

There was no way Jakob would be able to wash his hair without assistance; though Gunter had told him many times that it was getting too long for ease of comfort, Jakob had stubbornly refused to do anything with it save a small trim, which he usually did himself somehow. It at least suited the retainer, though Gunter wondered what he would look like, as an adult, with short hair.

Jakob made small complaints the entire time, but seemed to accept that he would need assistance for at least this part of the process and crossed his arms, wary of his chest wound. “This won’t happen again.”

“It better not, for your sake,” Gunter threatened with a light tone. He didn’t feel like losing another pupil, not now, not ever.

Jakob clicked his tongue and began checking over his wound more in depth, observing the rows of stitches and how it took up the entirety of his front.

Gunter didn’t think he fully realized just how lucky he was to even be here after arguing with him. It wasn’t entirely unexpected; Jakob hadn’t been there and, from what Selena had told them, he had passed out from the pain as soon as the damage had been done. He hadn’t been aware of his dire straits in the least, though he had known the first day that he was in a tense situation, vaguely.

Gunter debated on whether or not he should leave his apprentice in such bliss, or whether the knowledge of the situation would benefit him. He seemed to take Selena’s action as offensive rather than wary. As a bystander in the events, Gunter could observe both sides easily, though he wasn’t particular to either of them.

Jakob was stubborn, as usual, and confused, while Selena was obstinate, but also wounded and unsure.

He sighed as he began rinsing Jakob’s hair out, making sure the retainer was leaning far back enough to avoid getting soap on his wound.

“This won’t happen again, ever,” Jakob repeated himself, half dressed, as he toweled his hair off while Gunter began properly dressing his wound, bath over and done with.

“I hope not, for your sake.” Gunter went over the list of instructions in his head while he prepared the salve and Jakob helped keep the necessary items in place while Gunter wrapped his chest, years of experience with bandaging helping him with the process.

Jakob sighed loudly through his nose as Gunter straightened back up, job done, and he began putting on his clean shirt. “This makes me feel like a kid again. It’s insulting.”

“It’s also insulting when you go and try to die on us,” Gunter answered quickly, voice even. Jakob shot him a look conveying a hint of confusion, but he turned back to his work, slowly buttoning his shirt up.

“Isn’t it better that I be the one rather than Selena?” Jakob asked quietly, yet with a strong tone. Gunter looked toward him as he grabbed his crutch and began to stand up. Jakob turned to face him, leaning on the wood. “If she were to die… Wouldn’t that be inherently worse?”

“Not for some people, Jakob.”

Jakob looked down, setting his jaw as he considered Gunter’s words. “I believe it would be inherently worse.”

“I suppose you are not some people, then,” Gunter answered before assisting Jakob again, feeling his heart drop. “At least consider Lady Kamui’s feelings before you go sacrificing yourself at the drop of a pin, even if you were to do it for her.”

“I am her retainer,” Jakob answered evenly as they exited the bath house. “That is my line of work and I would have it no other way.”

“Was sacrificing yourself for Selena also part of your line of work?” Gunter countered quietly.

Jakob didn’t answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Gunter has no clue what Selena has gone through lolol 'first war/first almost lost' lolol.  
> I liked exploring bits and pieces of the past, especially the concubine wars as my perspective in the main story doesn't allow for too much of that. It's also nice to see how Selena acts from another perspective since I don't get much of that.  
> Gunter's pretty chill, he's not too hard to write.  
> I'm still trying to work out an entire timeline for my story since I feel like I need to have one now that this is actually a serious project;;;; If anyone feels like they know about that stuff better than I do (i only know recent things lolol) then you can tell me. Maybe I'll give out my tumblr for things like that since ao3 doesn't have that kind of messaging system.  
> Gunter's relationship with the kiddos needs to be explored more I think T-T they ruined him with that S support and it makes me cry. Also where are the felicia/flora and gunter supports at??????  
> I don't have much more to say about this other than this scene has been in my mind for a month or so now. It's touching. I also have other ideas for shorts like this, but they're for later on, so I can't write them/publish them now or else I'd be spoiling things!  
> Happy reading~


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